MY ROMAN EMPIRE

He came. They saw. Who will Conquer?

Joe is broke, creatively stuck, emotionally bankrupt, almost 35, gay, single and alone. So, naturally, he embarks upon a semi-spiritual economy-grade vigil to Italy to scatter his father's ashes, hoping to reconnect with his ancestry, discover his greater purpose, or at least spend a few weeks living la dolce vita in the Fatherland.

Instead, what he finds is a village on the verge of extinction, elderly relatives who (still) worship at the altar of Mussolini, and Luca: his magnetic second cousin, who offers Joe something truly intoxicating: an opportunity to be part of something bigger, something significant, something that feels like home.

But his new family have secrets of their own ...

As Joe gets pulled deeper into a world of savage wrestling, strange rituals and fiery rhetoric - Ancient Rome, neo-nationalism, and machismo collide. The seduction is real. And so is the danger.

My Roman Empire is a Euro-fever dream for anyone who's ever mistaken a red flag for a sign, a faction for a family, or an identity quest for an erotic journey into the heaving underbelly of a country at war with itself.

Winner of the 2026 Queensland Premier's Drama Award, this is a funny, scathing, and unflinchingly smart coming-of-age political satire that our Judges called "a highly original, sophisticated comedy.”

My Roman Empire is the winner of the Queensland Premier's Drama Award, proudly supported by the Queensland Government, with the prize sponsored by Griffith University.